Don’t read this if you want an easy life

Don’t read this if you want an easy life

Dear Church leader
I know you are busy. I know that you are one of the most marketted to group of people on the planet. I know everyone is trying to sell you something – to use their latest resource, their latest course, join in with another national something or other. Someone somewhere is trying to sell you a magic bullet to solve your ministry woes.

What I am asking you to do will not solve the problems in your church – in fact it may make your life more difficult. Getting involved will not get more people in your church in fact some might leave. It won’t solve your youth and children’s ministry challenges – it will generate more. It won’t make your services slicker and it will break your heart – regularly. I am asking you to make worship a priority. I don’t mean more singing or funkier tunes. I mean the kind of religion that God is looking for: caring for the vulnerable in our communities.

[quote_simple]Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

James 1.27[/quote_simple]

I know one verse won’t seal the deal with you. But as someone who knows the Bible you don’t need me to remind you of Psalm 68; Deuteronomy 14:17-22, Isaiah 1, Hosea 14:3 etc. I don’t need to remind you of the newspaper headlines that tell us we have a crisis in our care system. On our doorstep children are in need and there is a lot we the church can do to change that. Caring for the vulnerable children in our towns is not someone else’s job it’s in the job description for every church. This ministry won’t make your life easier but it will make your life better, your worship more authentic and most of all it will please God. It doesn’t mean you have to become a foster or adoptive parent – it does mean that we open the imagination of the average person in our church to consider becoming one knowing that the church would fully support them if they did.

3 simple things you can do to help

1. Show the video below (or a shorter 2 min version here) on Sunday 3rd of November.
2. Press this link and tell us you are doing it – so we can report to the government how many churches are doing this.
3. Pray for the children in care

Has one comment to “Don’t read this if you want an easy life”

Hi
We are right behind this – will be also putting together a video teaching that goes across all our sites on the doctrine of adoption, and interviewing and highlighting a number of Ivy families who foster and adopt, and some adopted people telling their stories.
Thanks for your energy to inspire the initiative!
Anthony